Thank you so much for your analysis.In other words, not the best food? I'm a little overwhelmed with all of the information in this thread. Thank you though, I am going to look into further. I want to feed her what's best for her. I'm sure I'll be back with questions.

Purina Pro Plan is the top food of hunting dogs. Why? Because it WORKS, even if it doesn't look pretty on paper to those who are more interested in trends than facts.

I was feeding my crew a top rated food called Fromm. Switched to Pro Plan when I got my hunting dog puppy. Lena had zero change in coat quality, stool, energy, etc. etc. Its been 2 years now and all 3 dogs eat Purina Pro Plan exclusively.

I feed pero premium a pet food company in Cymru, but I also feed raw every now and then, the pero stuff is good for working dogs it has a lot of protein in it which is vital for dogs taking part in sports such as weight pulling

I ask, because I fed our last dog Nature's variety. She mostly got the rabbit with lamb or venison rotated in and sometimes Merrik. That plus all their raw, home grown organic fruits and veggies, and the most premium supplements in existence should have had her health in top form. It SHOULD HAVE. But she still got caner. I am a nutritionist, and my dog still ate 10 times better than I do. So I'm feeling so frustrated, like there was something evil slipped in that I am unaware of.

barbponys wrote:Sorry I didn't go top 10. The foods after 5 are pretty much the same and they all pretty much fall into the catagory of "old school" formulations.

Pet Food Ratings

I have been asked to rate both dry and raw foods. The dry foods will be listed in order of quality with an explanation of why it rates where it does.

At the top of my list with 4 stars is raw or BARF. It’s the most appropriate for dogs to eat, easiest for them to digest, and though there are inherent risks, the safest as well.

For dry foods the first at 3 stars would be Timberwolf:With a very high percentage of meat based protein it is quite expensive. But since the dogs don’t eat as much of it, it really ends up being a good buy. They also, as a general rule, don’t develop a lot of the usual issues they deal with when lower quality foods are fed. Their lowest protein formula starts with 50% meat based protein, their highest has 90% meat based protein. The more meat protein the less grain they use. There is a wide variety of formulas and 3 are true allergy formulas since they don’t use any form of rice, corn, wheat, or soy.

Number two with 2 1/2 stars would be Nature’s Variety:They use a standard kibble but when it’s cooled from the extrusion process they coat it in dehydrated raw food. They call this “Bio-coating”. It ups the meat percentage quite a bit, though pound for pound it’s still less than the Timberwolf. They have recently added an allergy formula, Venison with pumpkin seed and sweet potato. The dogs do well with it.

Number 3 with 2 1/4 stars would be Merrick:Merrick also coats the kibble in dehydrated meat. They have added freeze dried vegetables and chunks of dehydrated meat in with the kibble. It has an added component of making gravy when warm water is added with the kibble. It takes a couple of minutes for it to thicken up but the dogs love it.

Number 4 with 1 3/4 stars would be Wellness. The biggest thing with this food that made it stand out is it is baked. It crumbles very easily, and is suppose to be easily digested. They were one of the first to come out with an alternative allergy formula with something other than lamb and rice.

Number 5 with 1 1/2 stars would be Canidae:This is a decent food, much better than a lot of the big names out there. My main complaint is that they use sunflower oil and, eventually, most dogs will have trouble with it. It’s a good middle of the road food for a lot of people coming off grocery store or big name foods. It shows them the benefits of feeding better quality.